


The Swan Princess

by knavessofhearts



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-06 11:39:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5415506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knavessofhearts/pseuds/knavessofhearts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lost boy returns to his home in the hopes of reuniting with his father, only to find an abandoned and long forgotten kingdom; it’s reigning castle inhabited only by a mysterious princess at night and a beautiful swan by day. Together they seek to uncover what happened to the kingdom once called the Enchanted Forest, and how to find their families.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Once upon a time, there had been a valiant prince and a fair princess. They met in the most strangest of circumstances, fell in love amidst the harshest dangers- and found their happy ending at the end of a long and trying journey. The prince and the princess married on a beautiful, sunny day surrounded by their subjects as they became rulers of the land, all the darkness banished from the land...or so they thought.

Their happy ending, was built upon the looming threat of the Evil Queen, hell-bent on exacting her revenge. She was planning a terrible fate for those who had wronged her, and created a curse that would destroy everyone’s happy endings. When the Evil Queen found out that the newborn daughter of the prince and princess had the power to stop her, she knew the savior could not be allowed to defeat her.

So she created a spell, a spell on the little princess that would make sure the savior would never be able to break the dark curse. When the curse was enacted, so was the spell on the little princess. When the sky filled with terrifying purple smoke that swept everyone away, including the valiant prince and the fair princess, the savior was left behind. That was the first day the little princess became a little swan, and would become a swan for every day thereafter.


	2. The Boy Who Came Home & The Girl Who Never Left

It had taken several years, centuries in fact, but finally his feet met the soil of the Enchanted Forest once again. It felt almost surreal, after spending so much time in Neverland's seemingly, eternal darkness, to be back here in the sun-filled world he had grown up in. The place where he had a home, a family, a roof over his head. He had spent countless many days sleeping wherever he could find protection. A rock, a cave, by the shores, anywhere to hide from the Lost Boys. And now he was back, feeling as though he'd never left, like the last hundred or so years were erased the second the portal closed behind him. He wasn't a day older than when he had left, but he no longer felt as young as he looked. In truth, Baelfire didn't feel like a 14 year old anymore, he felt much older after all he had seen and survived.

Coming back had felt like the right decision, now dread and regret flooded his thoughts and made him reconsider. In truth, he could not stay in Neverland any longer, for many reasons. But where was he supposed to go from there? To the Land Without Magic? The place he was supposed to have found a happy ending with his father, Baelfire had considered it. He knew he had made the brave choice in coming back here, he had to find his father and he was more sure than anything he would find him here. Baelfire wasn't returning to forgive his father, or because he missed him, though he did miss his father terribly so.

The man who abandoned him wasn't his father, it was the darkness inside him and its lust for power forcing Papa's hand. He understood, but that didn't mean he could forget the heartache of falling through the portal alone, his last memory of his father was his hand letting him go, and clutching that dagger like it was his lifeline. Baelfire had come back to find his father, to reunite and start what they had promised to accomplish together. To find a way to free him and bring back the father he knew and loved.  

Finding him now, would be a challenge. Time hadn't touched either Baelfire or Rumplestiltskin, but it had touched this world in every second. Even if Baelfire had returned to the exact place the portal had taken him, he hadn't a clue as to where to find The Dark One. Two hundred years, magic and a mystical being, surely someone would have heard of the name Rumplestiltskin, know where to find him, and help Baelfire get his father back. He wouldn't give up on his father, no matter what had happened between them. If his time on Neverland, evading death and torment from Pan and the Lost Boys had taught Baelfire anything, is that he was a fighter; and he would fight for the ones he loved just as hard. He had walked for about two hours until he realised something about the Enchanted Forest was strange to him, almost unsettling. It was another hour until he froze in his tracks, on the outskirts of a small village that he felt the realisation stir the panic in his mind. The entire kingdom was abandoned, not even a single human soul remained as far as Baelfire's eyes had seen. He was alone. Again.

The sun was beginning to set, and the light draining back into the night-sky. He sighed as he began to wander down the empty road and began to calculate a plan for the night. It felt just like old times he laughed darkly to himself. He was in a dark world, alone, and trying to find somewhere safe to sleep. Maybe he would never fully be able to escape the nightmares Neverland had given him. Baelfire had walked until the sun set and the moon rose, offering a faint, silver light to guide his path. He had still hoped at every bend in the road or behind a large tree he would catch a glimpse of another human being wandering on as confused as he was, and for hours and hours it was still only Baelfire and the sound of his feet filling the land. He began to fear he made a terrible mistake coming back, and feared something even greater. Did his father have anything to do with why there was no inhabitants in the land? Had he done something so truly and utterly dark as vanishing every person into thin air? What had happened while Baelfire was gone? He was about to give up hope and fall asleep against an appealing fallen tree, when as he peered through the forest to his right a structure came into view. He ventured out of the tree line to see across a spanning lake, an abandoned and degraded castle. It had definitely seen the wears of time, with only a few of its grand turrets not completely destroyed. It was still quite aways from where he currently stood, but sure would beat sleeping on a mossy log. He gathered up his few belongings and headed in the direction of the castle. By the time Baelfire arrived, dead on his feet, he was so exhausted he did not see a flickering candle light illuminating one of the windows, and curious eyes spying him. 

 

~~~ 

 

She waited eagerly for the golden moment that the sun would start to set and the moon would rise, the perfect moment as night began but there was still some part of the day left lingering. It was the only time she could ever see the sun, and though she did not have much to base it on, she believed it was the most beautiful part of the day. She coveted watching the dark orange sun fall beyond the horizon, and send the world into a mix of pinks and purples and blues. It was the only light she had known that wasn't from the moon or stars, and how desperately she wanted to see more. It was never enough, only seeing a blink of day. Soon enough, her moment of misery ended as she brushed off the twigs and branches from her dress and marched back to the castle doors. Grabbing an apple she had picked the other night, she made her way back to the only room in the vast and empty castle that gave her any other kind of distraction, the library. She lit only a few candles to help her see, but left the majority of the grand room in the dark. She left the drapes wide open, the moonlight providing light to everywhere else.

Emma had read every book in this room by the time she was 12, and was now attempting to teach herself how to read maps. It was fairly easy, once you got the hang of it, the trick was to always remember which way was North, and she would never feel lost. The maps held her attention for most of the night, but eventually, like always, she grew bored. Instead, she commenced her other hobby, exploring.

Emma knew every inch of the castle, all its hidden passageways and tunnels and every crack in the wall. She knew this place like the back of her hand, but she had never known what it looked like in daylight. Emma wandered into the great ballroom at the heart of the castle, and inspected the broken windows and errant leaves that had wafted in through them over the years. It was hard to picture this place full of light, untouched by time and full of people. That was when Emma sought solace in the gallery. 

She hadn't always been alone in this castle, but it seemed like forever ago she had seen another face. Until Emma was 4, she had the company of an elderly woman named Norah. Norah had said she was a maid in the castle, who for reasons she didn't quite understand stayed behind while all the others were taken in the purple smoke. Norah would affectionately say to young Emma it was because she was chosen to look after Emma, and Emma was eternally grateful. Through Norah, Emma had at least some memories of her parents, and the life she was supposed to have with them. 

Norah had led Emma into the gallery, and walked to the very end of the hall to the newest painting at the end, and picked Emma up so she could see what her parents had looked like. She had her father's hair, her mother's eyes and chin, and wanted nothing more than for when she reached out to touch them for her parents to reach out back to her. Norah said it was a portrait from the happiest days of their lives, her father wearing his finest silver clothes and her mother in a dress made of delicate feathers. Emma answered their wedding day, and Norah nodded in affirmation. It was painted in the very great hall now filled with desolation where there had once been a mass of loyal subjects, and a benevolent prince and princess. 

Now Emma sat here, curled up underneath the frozen portrait of the parents she never knew, only having the faint memories of Norah's stories to comfort her. Emma's favourite story had been the one about the brave prince and princess, their very special little daughter who was destined to save them, and that one day they would be together again. Emma had read enough happy endings in her books to know they weren't real. But she still dreamed of the day she would feel her mother's hand on her cheek, and her father's loving embrace. She drifted off into sleep imagining her mother picking out her dress for Emma's first ball, when she heard the sound of glass shattering, and a soft cry echoing down the halls of the castle.  She sat up bolt-right, and tried to steady her racing heartbeat, and Emma felt a strange mix of fear and excitement. Had she wished so hard for her dreams that they actually came true? Emma had not seen another person ever since the day Norah had gone out to gather food and promised she would be back in two days. That was over 11 years ago, and now someone else had stumbled into Emma's castle. Emma looked up to her parents for guidance, or for strength, and only saw their kind and soft eyes frozen in time looking back down at her. Emma tried to think of what they would tell her, her mother would tell her "Be brave, we believe in you, Emma. Be brave." Her father would place his hand on the back of her head and whisper to her "it's alright to be scared, but we are here with you, and always will be." They gave her the courage to stand up and grab a candlestick, clutching it tightly as she searched for the sound of the noise.

Emma conjured up all kinds of possibilities of who or what it was that had stumbled into the castle. Spanning from ogres or wolves or scaly monsters from her books. She found the source of the noise originated in the kitchen, and held her candlestick, weapon of choice high and strong as she barged into the room with all the bravery she could muster. Emma did not expect, to find a young boy with floppy brown hair to be curled up, fast asleep by the oven. 

 

 


	3. The Lost Boy Meets the Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> guess whose new years resolution was to try and finish the fics she started?

Baelfire had the feeling that he had not been asleep for very long, but he was not too sure. He had felt like he had been asleep for hours, but was incredibly confused when he opened one eye and notice it was still dark outside. He sat up and searched for whatever had woken him, he saw nothing but a glimmering lake outside and the slight outline of the room around him. Baelfire shook off his doubt and realised there was nothing here, and lied back down. He had almost closed his eyes again, when he saw something move to the right of him. He bolted upright, instinctively grabbing the nearest object to him as a weapon, and moved into the light of the moon.

At the same time Baelfire got prepared to defend himself from whatever demon that came out of the shadow, the last thing he expected to be confronted with was a screaming girl with blonde hair, holding a candlestick above her head.

“Who are you? Why are you watching me?” Baelfire demanded, and raised his weapon also, which was apparently a….frying pan, he took a glance. He had been in more dire straits than this with the Lost Boys, but never with a frying pan.

“Who are _you_ , and why are you in my castle?!” the girl fired back, and Baelfire frowned.

“Your castle? You can’t own a castle!” Baelfire had been to castles before, and it was only an old man and woman wearing fur coats and big, gold crowns who owned it. Not a young girl in a nightgown and robe.

“If you don’t tell me who you are and why you are here right _now-“she_ raised the candlestick higher, and the look in her eyes make Baelfire certain she could do serious damage with that. He lowered his frying pan.

“My name is Baelfire, I came from another land and it was dark, I was tried and I just wanted somewhere to sleep. I’m sorry for barging into your _castle,_ but I thought it was abandoned,” he explained, and the girl lowered her candlestick slightly.

“You’re from another land?” was all that she questioned, and Baelfire saw her eyes light up with interest and excitement.

“Well, sort of…it’s a long story. I’m from here but I went…away. Now I’m back, and everything is so different…” Baelfire looked around, at the neglected and run-down castle, and the only person who seemed to live in this land at all, was looking at him like he had just jumped down from the moon.

“I am sorry for intruding, I can leave if you wish,” Baelfire resigned. He had wanted to avoid sleeping on the dirt outside, but clearly he had startled this girl. A part of him was afraid to even offer his departure. This was the only person he knew of for certain to still be in the Enchanted Forest, how was he going to find out anything without her? She lowered the candlestick and placed it on the table beside her.

“It’s okay, you can stay in my castle as long as you need, Baelfire,” she assured him in a surprisingly formal tone. Like she was a….

“Wait, why do you keep saying that? Your castle?” Baelfire asked, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

“I’m Princess Emma, my parents were Prince David and Princess Mary-Margaret. They were going to be crowned King and Queen before….” Emma’s face darkened, and she bit her lip slightly.

“Before?” he pried, and stepped a little closer towards her, and she turned back to face him with a sorrowful expression.

“Before the Dark Curse took everyone away…including my mother and father,” she uttered, and looked down once again as she played with the sleeve of her dress. Baelfire was glad she looked away, for he knew he would not have been able to hide his reaction. A curse did this…that took everyone away with no trace. But not just any curse…a dark curse. That couldn’t be a coincidence, his worse fear had been realised. The Dark One destroyed his only home.

“I was only a baby when it happened, for some reason I was left behind. I don’t even remember my parents, I only know what they looked like from the portraits in the Great Hall. I don’t even know if I’ll ever see them again,” Emma confessed, and Baelfire wanted nothing more than to tell her it would be alright. He couldn’t do that, not knowing that it was his father that caused her pain. As soon as he had seen it fall, Emma rushed to wipe a tear from her eye and grabbed Baelfire’s arm. Soon enough, they were marching through the castle.

“You don’t have to sleep in the kitchen, there are hundreds of rooms here. And there is plenty of food in the morning if you get hungry. I picked fruit yesterday and there should be some bread left too. Here,” Emma stopped and pointed towards a door. Baelfire opened it and inside was a grand bedroom complete with windows overlooking the amazing lake outside. He could see the forests for miles and miles. It was a beautiful site, that he hadn’t realised how much he missed until now.

“You can stay as long as you want,” Emma said nervously, “I know it’s not much and the place is a little…broken. But it’s the only home I know.”

Baelfire nodded, he understood that last part all too well.

“Thank you, Emma, for everything,” he said, and the princess offered him a tiny smile.

“Goodnight, Baelfire,” she said and ran back through the door, her long blonde hair trailing after her like a coat. Baelfire smiled a little as he tought about Emma’s words. It wasn’t much, it wasn’t his home, but he felt a lot safer here than anywhere he had been for a long time. Baelfire was so tired, he barely could even marvel at the site of a bed again before his head hit the pillow and he was asleep once more.

He woke with sunlight on his face and feeling like he had slept for a century. The sun had risen over the lake now, and the sky was a dazzling blue. Despite this world being so different and strange from when he had left, and having no clear idea what to do next, Baelfire felt at peace.


	4. A Swan in Daylight

Emma didn’t quite understand her curse, despite the extensive research she had conducted in the library. Curses were a funny thing, as it all depended on circumstances like who cast it, casted onto whom, the ingredients used and even the intention. There was one piece of information that ran true through all types of curses Emma had read about. One certainty that would break any curse and cure any spell. True Love’s Kiss. Emma didn’t believe in love, it was hard to believe in love when you lived alone in an abandoned castle. It was even harder to believe in love when you spent half your life as a swan.

Things were different now though, with Baelfire around. The first person Emma had seen in so many years, and he had stumbled right into her kitchen. Emma knew all about fate and destiny, she learnt that from the stories about her parents. it was one thing to know it, to read about it in the fictional tales and spellbooks, it was a whole other story to actually believe in that.

Her curse came with very few perks, except one. There was one day a year that Emma actually saw, that she wouldn’t turn into a swan at the first ray of sunlight. Her birthday. Emma never found a reason as to why, but she soon learnt not to question it. Baelfire had been living in the castle almost long enough to realise that Emma kept disappearing during the days, and this was her chance to see him and talk to him in daylight. To be a normal girl.

Emma was outside, dressed and ready to go before the sun had even risen. Its light was already teasing her in the sky, and she waited at the edge of the lake for its first beams to fly across its surface. Finally, the golden strings burst across the mountains and ran across the water to Emma. A tiny bit of sunlight touched her toes, and Emma held her breath, wondering if this would be the birthday her little miracle wore off. It didn’t, and Emma went running. She didn’t know where she was running to, only that she knew that she could and wouldn’t suddenly start flying instead. It was exhilarating, her only taste of freedom, just one day that Emma would use to its full potential. She would climb trees before breakfast and pick the tastiest fruits at the top, which she would on the steps of the palace. She could swim in the lake and bask in the sunlight to dry her skin, its warmth as comforting as the hugs her mother gave her in her dreams. Emma’s possibilities were endless, and by mid-afternoon she had completed them all. It was when she went walking along the edge of the lake, she spotted Baelfire sitting amongst the reeds. A twig broke underneath her foot, and Baelfire looked up in her direction with a warm smile.

“Mind if I join you?” Emma asked, and Baelfire nodded, Emma sat down beside him and smoothed out her dress as they overlooked the water. Emma couldn’t get rid of her smile, she loved seeing the daylight, all the colours in the world night kept hidden away from her. She was snapped out of her trance when she noticed Baelfire offer her a biscuit.

“You don’t go outside much do you?” Baelfire asked, and Emma paused with her answer. She never had to explain to someone before why she vanished during the day and only appeared at night, how was she going to come up with a valid excuse?

“I like to go somewhere quiet in the castle and read, normally up in one of the towers or something. I’m used to being on my own,” she lied with a small shrug, and Baelfire grimaced in sympathy.

“I got used to being on my own too,” he offered, and nudged her shoulder slightly, Emma was glad he was here. She liked the feeling of having a friend that wasn’t a bird or frog.

“Can I ask you something, Baelfire?” she tried, and Baelfire nodded as he stuffed his face with another biscuit.

“Where did you come from? How did you get here?” Emma asked excitedly, and Baelfire seemed happy to share his story.

“I was in a place called Neverland, it’s kind of complicated how I ended up there, but I was stuck there for a really long time. Its always night time there, and time works differently, and I was being hunted by people called the Lost Boys. They are okay, but their leader Pan…he was after me and I had to stay in hiding on the island all the time. Constantly moving, I never had one place that I could always come back too,” Baelfire told, and Emma was entranced. She read a story about a wizard’s adventures to other lands, one of them being this Neverland, but hearing it from someone who was actually there was better than any story.

“Did you have any friends there?” Emma asked inquisitively, Baelfire shrugged.

“Sometimes…Tinkerbell was a fairy stuck under Pan’s thumb, like me. She hated him too, but had to tolerate him because she needed magic to keep being a fairy. Sometimes we would cross paths and she’d let me crash at hers, Tink’s real funny and has an attitude. Like you,” Baelfire joked and Emma laughed, Baelfire seemed to pause before he continued, as if a painful memory had just risen to the surface.

“…And Captain Hook, I thought he was someone that cared about me, for a while, then I realised he was just as bad as Pan. Neverland has a way of making people more evil than they really are. Hook was how I got back here, he had a magical bean that you can use to travel between realms. He was saving it to go somewhere else and….find somebody. But he didn’t deserve it, so I took it and came here.”

Emma patted Baelfire on the shoulder, trying her best to let him know he wasn’t alone, he looked up at her through his soft, moppy brown hair that fell over his eyes. He looked like a lost, little puppy. As he looked away and started to throw pebbles into the water, Emma stifled a laugh at what a clumsy puppy Baelfire would make if he was cursed like her.

“So why did you come back to the Enchanted Forest?” Emma continued, and Baelfire seemed even more hesitant to tell her than before, he stopped throwing pebbles and rolled a stone between his fingers, Emma took his hand.

“You can tell me, I’m really good at keeping secrets,” Emma confided in him, the irony not lost on her.

“My father, I came back to find him…I thought he would still be here but-“

“-the curse,” Emma finished, as the realisation dawned on her, “He got taken in the curse, too.”

Baelfire almost told her the rest of the truth about his father, and only just stopped his mouth from forming the words just in time. He couldn’t tell her that, she was just started to like him. Trust him even. He couldn’t tell her his father was the reason she grew up alone in a castle.

“What is his name?” Emma asked, and Baelfire breathed in relief as she continued on.

“Rumplestiltskin,” he said. Emma giggled.

“What a strange name, is he a good father?”

“…he was, but a lot changed in the year before I ended up in Neverland. I want to try and fix things, be a family again. Except I have no idea where to find him now, and no way to get there without a magic bean,” Baelfire lamented, and threw his last stone into the water with all his energy. It caused a massive ripple to stretch across the surface of the water.

“I’d give anything to find my parents too. The maid that raised me, until I was four, she always told me I am supposed to be destined to save them, to find them and break the curse. I don’t know how I am supposed to be a savior when I am stuck here in this castle,” Emma said sorrowfully, _or how I’m supposed to save them when I am cursed to be a swan_ , she added in her head. This time, Emma was the one to pick up a stone and walked to the edge of the water, and picked up a round stone and twirled it in her hand. She waited, and listened to the wind, before with perfect precision, she flicked her wrist and sent the stone cascading across the water’s surface, that continued skipping until Emma or Baelfire could no longer see it. Eventually, once she grew tired of wondering if the stone would ever come back, she sat back down next to Baelfire.

“Why are you sitting here hidden among the reeds anyway?” Emma asked as she realised the odd place Baelfire had chosen to sit and watch the lake.

“I’m waiting,” he said simply.

“Waiting for what?”

“There’s a swan that lives in this lake, and it swims by here every day. Except today…” Baelfire told her in a puzzled tone, and Emma was glad he was watching the water so intently he did not see her smile.

“Maybe she is off flying somewhere…” Emma pondered, and Baelfire looked to the sky.

“I’ve seen it every day since I met you…it’ll be here any second you’ll see, just wait,” Baelfire said, and leaned forward to watch the lake as though the swan would appear any second. Emma couldn’t help but smile even wider, and the boy who wanted nothing more than to see the swan, and having no idea it was already there next to him.

“Okay, I’ll wait…” Emma promised, wishing more than anything that the sun wasn’t already starting to set. This was by far the best birthday she ever had.


End file.
